Joe Marshall’s patience pays off as brownfield cleanup begins
A brownfield redevelopment project in Milwaukee’s far south side is off and running after four years of legal and financial wrangling.
In the coming weeks, more than 29,000 tons of contaminated soil will be excavated and removed from the former industrial site at 5379 S. 9th St. About 2,000 trucks will be coming and going non-stop for 21 days to haul away the refuse.
And as the excavation goes deeper – as deep as 15 feet – contaminants including volatile organic compounds and gasoline are expected to emit a powerful odor.
Even though the site is nestled in a typical south side residential district – modest homes are located right across the street- property owner Joe Marshall does not expect any complaints from his neighbors.
That’s because remediation of the contaminated soils at the site now occupied by Marshall’s companies, Marshall Erecting, Inc. and Excel Connection USA, Inc., will rid the neighborhood of a toxic eyesore.
"If you saw the site before work began, it looked like something out of a bad horror movie," said Ald. Jeff Pawlinski, whose 13th Aldermanic District encompasses the site. "We really have to appreciate that Joe moved his companies from St. Francis to the city of Milwaukee and took this project on."
The appearance of the property and its effects on neighboring property values are only two reasons neighbors will be happy to see the site rehabilitated. According to Scott Tarmann, project manager with the Pewaukee office of the Boston-based engineering firm Enser International, toxins in the soil have filtered into the water table.
"They have penetrated the groundwater table," said Tarmann, who has been involved with Marshall on the project since 1999. "There are groundwater impacts at 15 feet. The site consists of clay and silty materials. The soils did play a part, as clay is a fairly tight soil. The contamination has not yet migrated beyond the parcel boundaries."
The 6.2-acre site, which was abandoned by previous owners in the 1995 Chapter 7 bankruptcy of Solar Paints and Varnishes, Inc., was plagued with so many financial and environmental hazards that legislation was actually passed on the state and federal levels to allow the site to be rehabilitated.
According to Foley & Lardner attorney Bruce Keyes, who along with a team of four other lawyers have fought legal and regulatory battles for Marshall since 1998, the rehabilitation of this industrial dumping ground involved every challenge a brownfield can present.
Back taxes were owned on the foreclosed property. The cost of removing the above-ground and underground tanks of toxic substances were staggering.
"There will be no site that is this difficult," Keyes said. "It itself, it is a school in brownfields redevelopment."
One initial barrier to redeveloping the site was that to remove the tax lien from the property, Milwaukee County would have needed to take ownership of the site, which in turn would make the county responsible for the cleanup prior to a subsequent sale.
But in May 2000, Gov. Tommy Thompson signed the Tax Assignment Act. The statute authorized the transfer of tax delinquent brownfield properties to a new owner without requiring the county to take title to the property.
Counties can now assign title to an entity that agrees to undertake an environmental assessment of the parcel and, where necessary, undertake remediation.
Marshall also signed a contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to forgive $450,000 of EPA liens. That arrangement, according to Keyes, was a precursor to the Federal Brownfields Act of 2000, which shifted liability for contamination from the property owner to the parties that contaminated the land.
The EPA also assisted with removal of 10,000 leaking containers of chemicals from the site under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund.
Another hurdle Marshall had to clear was finding a home for the contaminated soil once it was removed from the site. Fortunately, the site’s chemical cocktail of benzene, toluene, xylene, and petroleum can be broken down through aeration, so the soil can be sent to a landfill.
Trucks will take the contaminated material to Superior Special Service’s Emerald Park Landfill in Franklin, where it will be used to cover daily dumpings.
According to Marshall, the process of brownfield redevelopment is not for the faint of heart or the impatient.
Marshall invested more than $1.5 million in the site, renovating an existing office structure and building a 33,000-square-foot metal building on the only non-contaminated portion of the parcel even before taking legal title to the land.
His two businesses relocated to the site from St. Francis a year ago. He took title to the property Nov. 2.
"Once the soil is removed, and we get clean fill in there, I’d like to build another 9,000-square foot building and lease it out," Marshall said. "If that works, this whole deal will have been worth it. But we can’t have too many other surprises coming at us."
To make a brownfield project such as Marshall’s site work, the would-be buyer must have "a compelling desire" for the property," Keyes said.
"It really takes a site of five acres or larger to make a truly badly contaminated site worthwhile," Keyes said. "There is lot of funding out there, but it also makes sense to surround yourself with experienced people."
Nov. 8, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
